Slow Spring

This spring is taking it's time coming to our area this year. The severe winter has over stayed it's leave. In a way this makes me appreciate all the greening up and savor each bloom for a longer period of time.

From the small daffodils (above) to the larger varieties (below) to the hellebores all abloom. 

My favorite hellebore, that I have, is the Freckled one. It is so sweet. 

I often wondered why people called them Christmas roses. Below I caught a bud and a just opening bloom that certainly looks like a rose. 

The moss in protected places are beginning to spore and produce seed. 

Wildflowers are popping up everywhere. Bloodroot is about to bloom. 

I planted some pink hyacinths last year. They have a few blooms. This little beauty needs to be planted in mass to appreciate the pale pink it offers the garden this time of year. My photo has washed out the color it is prettier as in more color in real life. 

Now the old fashioned pink hyacinths have enough color to hold their own in the garden. 

This is about the only shot of blue in the garden at this time of year. I have other blues planted but they haven't shown up yet.

The pussywillow is in full flower. My first honey bee of the season was sighted April 1st this year. Now all we need is a little more warm weather. I am not hurrying spring along. I love this time of  year to savor all denizens of the garden.

It is great fun to get out this time of year between showers to see the next up in bloom. What all is blooming in your garden now?

Spring Snow

                                       We went from this yesterday, a perfect early spring day,

to this, a perfect early spring day.

It seems that every March we have snow. So despite it being warmer than ever this winter we have had our largest snowfall this year, such as it is, this spring.

I am sure those of you up North are laughing your wool socks off at this piddling of snow but I am glad to see it.

I thought we were  going to get through a winter with just a heavy dusting of frost. How could I say we had winter without snow? 

I can now  say we have had winter.

So let the growing season begin.

Have you had snow this winter or has your winter been as mild as ours?

I hope your area wasn't one of those hit by the tornadoes and severe winds. My thoughts and prayers goes out to all who has to deal with the devastation.

P.S.

My DB took this picture out his window this morning. You can see that Mrs Robin doesn't especially like this weather. You can also see that the sun is out and it will melt the snow so that Mrs Robin can go on hunting worms and getting on with territorial chores.

Wonderful Wednesday

You probably think that I have fallen off the planet.  No, the opposite is true. I have been out in the garden working like a Trojan.  My Dearly Beloved has been driven by this warmer than usual March weather and we have been doing our weeding/mulching. Yes, 6 truck loads of mulch have been applied so far. That means that all beds that have been mulched have also been weeded.  Bushes moved and trimmed.  Even Luna thinks there has been just too much outside activity. It is difficult to keep up.

I am so pleased with everything so far.  I mean how can you even be angry with the henbit and dandelions that are popping up everywhere when you know that it means warm weather is on its way.
The later hellebores are now blooming. Red Lady is blooming for the first time.  I think she is going to be great in a few years when she fills out more.

The freckled helleores are one of my favorites though.

Another favorite of spring is the wild flower Spring Beauty. Of course it lives up to its name especially when they are well established in a lawn or flower bed and they look like a pink carpet. Gail wrote a beautiful post about these Spring Beauties as her Wildflower Wednesday post. I think you would enjoy reading it if you pop over here.

It is just marvelous to have so many colors in the garden now.

The daffodils cover most hues of yellow.

Then of course the crocus want to get into the act.

And what would spring be without a few tulips.  We are talking few here too. I must put them on my list for next fall. These little beauties used to be about a foot tall.  Now they barely peek over the grass.

I hope you all have been able to be out in the garden some this spring. I can say it is a delightful antedote to a long hard winter. I hope there are lots of promise in your garden now that spring has arrived.

What is showing promise in your garden now?

Happiness is

being able to get into the dirt.  What a delightful afternoon I had in the garden.  I don't feel like I accomplished much more than making my muscles sore but there is a nice pile of sticks and Helebore trimmings to show. 

The poor helebores had a harrowing winter to endure this year.  They had some gnarly looking leaves. Here is a before picture.

Here is an after.  This helebore was given to me and I can't remember the name of it but it is my best bloomer this year.  It has such beautiful white blooms.

Here is an up close photo.

The helebores in my garden that used to be my best bloomers were overtaken by ferns last year. So I spent some time digging out ferns.  I wish I had a place for them but unfortunately I don't.  I guess I could put them in the side lot and let them go rampant.  There are a few wet places they would probably adore.

As you can see the hellebores don't look very happy.  After I dug out the ferns I put some nice compost around them.

The only other thing blooming in my garden now are the yellow crocus. They had their sweet little faces wide open to catch the few sun rays that graced our area today.

I still haven't seen a bee or a butterfly. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm. I am ever hopeful. Have you had any insects in your garden yet this year?

Eventful Sunday In and Out of the Garden

Our Sunday began as it usually does with a bird watching outing. We went to a place we don't often go to see water fowl. In this area is also a Bald Eagles nest. We stopped to see if the couple had taken up nest keeping for the year and we weren't disappointed. One of the adults was sitting tight in the nest as it swayed in the wind.

I zoomed out so you could see that the other adult was loafing above the nest. Keeping an eye on what was going on. You can see it in the upper right of the picture below.

After birding we went home and I checked the various crocus bunches to see if any were abloom. I wasn't disappointed here either. This sweet little crocus is named Lady Killer. It certainly is pretty with its spot of purple on the white petals.

Here, you can see it a little better in this photo.Looking down on it with the flower all the way open you can't see the purple on the bloom.

There are several groups of the large yellow crocus blooming now. The lavender striped crocus are abloom.We have some solid purple crocus but they aren't even budding yet. I wonder when they will show their pretty heads. This photo brings me to the helebores. Yes, look closely there is a tiny bud, middle left, in this picture of an Ivory Prince helebore.

I am not sure what this helebore is. It has a beautiful white bloom. It might be Ivory Prince too. This helebore with its shades of lime green on the bloom is not Ivory Prince but I am not sure what it is name is. It has deeply serrated leaves. This is the helebore that I thought was going to die because it was under the pine tree that came down last winter. Its companions were stomped to death when the men took the pine tree out. This brave little soul hung on and is blooming beautifully.
Speaking of storms. A terrible thunderstorm blew through here during the afternoon. There were tornadoes south and north of town. We were lucky that we only had a gust of wind at 92mph. Our only damage was when the neighbors fence had three of the panels come down. That wind actually broke the metal brackets holding the panels. I guess we were lucky that they didn't fly through the windows of our house. One of them broke a couple of pickets out of our fence. Easy fix. We feel lucky.

I hope you all had a good weekend and that you have a successful week ahead.

Hope from Mush

My poor Hellebores are taking a beating this winter. The poor dears lost all their protection when the pine trees went down. Now we are having snow, ice and today rain turning to snow. Geez... They are such tough creatures they are hanging on with all their might. As you can see this pile of yuck doesn't look very promising...

Look a little closer...there is hope.

This poor little guy doesn't look quite as heady. It is a different type. I can just hear Frances now "girl get out there and cut off those awful dead looking leaves" and I would reply "But Frances I am afraid that those leaves are the only cover that will protect the crowns now" Should I cut or not cut??? This is the question.